The Colorado Process Analysis of the Written Language of Hearing-Impaired Children assesses the semantic characteristics of expressive written language narratives prepared by beginning writers. The validity of the instrument was examined with 284 children (ages 7-21), indicating that the model does identify characteristics that are critical to the…

This introduction to Section 1, Part 2 of the theme issue discusses a study that investigated the story-grammar propositions of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Results found that over 50% of the students could not produce the minimal components of a good story. The processes of story production are explained, including schemata…

Ten Spanish adolescents with profound, prelingual hearing impairments received instruction in organizing their written stories. Instruction emphasized the importance of the narrative structure and the writing process and offered different activities about the narrative text. Some of the students improved the quality of their writing and their…

A series of studies on 474 Colorado students (ages 7-18) with hearing impairments investigated the use of inference and elaboration, sequencing, and story-grammar strategies. The use of eight types of sequence/connection/cohesion strategies was examined. Results found that different strategies predominate depending on participants' age and degree…

The written stories of 8 severely to profoundly hearing-impaired students in grades 4-11 were analyzed and assigned a developmental level. Results indicated T-unit lengths within normal limits, limited use of cohesive devices, and difficulty with internal responses. The developmental level exhibited by most subjects was the true narrative stage.…